So the Maine State Police have arrested state Rep. Brian L. Jones for allegedly having sex with a woman inside a van belonging to her in a park-and-ride lot (“Maine lawmaker arrested in alleged sexual encounter,” Sept. 17).

I am not in favor of adultery; however, I also believe it is a private matter between consenting adults who commit it in private. It was none of the trooper’s business to inquire what a man and a woman were doing inside a legally parked vehicle, much less to demand to know their names or arrest either of them.

Beyond the trumped-up charges, what was the real reason for creating a public spectacle out of a private matter that did not affect anyone else – least of all the public order and safety the police are supposedly there to protect?

I realize that it is titillating for immature men to catch someone “in the act” and to talk it up in the locker room or write about it in the newspaper. Was this a convenient political “story” planted in the paper a few weeks before Election Day? Or is it just an example of appallingly poor judgment and immaturity on the part of power-abusing police officer, reporter and editor alike?

Paul Kando

Damariscotta